Frank, I find Hwy 26 fairly unpleasant for riding --- there used to be a decent cut-over from 26 from Jewell Junction to Manzanita along the Nehalem River (quiet, with 7 miles of gravel) but the bridge washed out this winter.

an option might via hwy 6 to Tillamook, then north on 101 - Hwy 6 is a lot quieter than 26.

The driver of a motor vehicle may only pass a person operating a bicycle by driving to the left of the bicycle at a safe distance and returning to the lane of travel once the motor vehicle is safely clear of the overtaken bicycle. For the purposes of this paragraph, a “safe distance” means a distance that is sufficient to prevent contact with the person operating the bicycle if the person were to fall into the driver’s lane of traffic....

When you turn north from Tillamook, you have two routes to choose from. From Garibaldi, I'd recomend taking the Miami River Road, for three reasons:

1.) Less traffic than 101.
2.) The northbound shoulder from Manhattan Beach to Wheeler is crap.
3.) The prevailing winds on the coast are out of the northwest. Being inland behind a ridge, the Miami River Road gives you some shelter.

For those of you have rode HWY 6, how is the climb? I am a fairly new cyclist and want to try a coast trip and everyone says this is the best way to go, but I am worried about the climb over the Coastal range.

If you're one of these young bucks in his 20's or 30's, I think you'll be fine. If you're not in such great shape, take a lot of food and water, and resign yourself to stopping a few times on the way up.

But the paycheck. OMG views of the Wilson River and you have to pedal maybe as much as a mile over the next twenty.

The driver of a motor vehicle may only pass a person operating a bicycle by driving to the left of the bicycle at a safe distance and returning to the lane of travel once the motor vehicle is safely clear of the overtaken bicycle. For the purposes of this paragraph, a “safe distance” means a distance that is sufficient to prevent contact with the person operating the bicycle if the person were to fall into the driver’s lane of traffic....

I've ridden hwy 6 to Tillamook many a time. It's not tough at all, just a gradual 3-5% grade most of the way to the summit. A couple of places are 7%, but they're brief. Once you're at the summit, your climbing is basically over until Tillamook. It's almost all downhill. Go to this link, http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/4313661, and you can check out the details. That ride went to Pacific City.